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A Politician's Spiritual Journey (3612)

As welcome as inconvenient relations coming for Thanksgiving dinner, the Tea Party movement has upset America’s political order to varying degrees. And Christine O’Donnell can lay claim to being one of the Tea Party’s opening toasts. A complete underdog, she narrowly lost a 2010 Senate race in Delaware that pitted her against the national GOP establishment as well as a dishwater Democrat opponent.

But her book is a winner.

Part memoir, part political tract, the whole seasoned with a populism steeped in the faith she embraced in adulthood, Troublemaker is not the usual book written by a former candidate: i.e., a self-serving piece of pap penned in order to advance future political ambitions. She does not hint at another run for office — she says she did so in the first place based on suggestions from disparate individuals she believes were too coincidental to be coincidental — nor is the reader left with the impression that she wants to.

For O’Donnell, a longtime political commentator and social activist, is passionate about politics as a way of supporting the common good, not advancing the personal interests so many politicians conceal beneath idealistic talk. This is a book more about the message than the messenger, and its recipe for American spiritual renewal bears the instruction of an opening quote: “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). Like any good book, it makes one think deeply and well — and well of the author, to boot: a principled truth-seeker, yet cheerfully self-effacing and scrappy. In short, a good egg with a good head on her shoulders. If she were not, the book’s last page would smack of the worst hypocrisy and not be worthy of review in these pages: It features the entire Litany of Humility.

The book begins with an engaging personal backgrounder. O’Donnell’s populist sensibilities and personal appeal have their roots in a big New Jersey family of Irish-Italian heritage, where hard work, selflessness and a celebration of personal theatricality (“I caught the acting bug from my father,” who once played Bozo) made for a pleasant potpourri. It did lack, however, one element that would prove ever more vital as she grew older: the Catholic faith as a truly lived experience, informing one’s whole heart and mind. When she grew up, her family was only nominally Catholic.

She would discover the faith as she matured and made important personal discoveries that would shape her intellect and character. (“God has to build and strengthen your character before he can release you into your calling,” she notes. “Otherwise, fulfilling your purpose could be the very thing that crushes you.”)

Abortion was a key turning point. Like many young people, she was casually “pro-choice” in college — until a pro-life friend encouraged her to read up on what that “choice” entailed. The medical book she consulted described the procedure in such objective detail that the subjective horror “shattered my whole worldview, to the point where I came away thinking, If I’ve been wrong about abortion, what else am I wrong about?”

Her moral — and, later, religious — transformation would go in tandem with her political life, leading her to work on behalf of pro-life causes and challenge the MTV generation, even appearing on MTV itself to present views on contemporary issues alternative to the immorality pushed by that channel.

In addition to various advocacy work, she also would work passionately to promote The Passion of the Christ. She learned a lot about politics via Mel Gibson’s pioneering method of promoting a difficult movie that the Hollywood establishment balked at backing: namely that appealing directly to the people to promote a cause can be more effective than worrying about coddling up to the establishment, which may opportunistically go along with you anyway if it senses popular appeal.

The book concludes with a prudential plan for American renewal, emphasizing grassroots efforts and modern communications to promote the commonsense convictions of a conservatism of the heart as well as of the mind, anchored in Catholic social and political teaching. She hopefully casts America’s “crisis of faith” in the context of the faith, noting that trite sound bites (“my body, my choice”) go up in smoke when placed against the truth of the ages, perpetually burning but never consumed; and that moral and spiritual problems cannot be fixed with cheap political bandages. The renewal she propounds is nothing new, yet ever pertinent, based on “centuries of theological development and clarity regarding the initial deposit of the faith that has become a touchstone of magisterial teaching, including documents such as Humanae Vitae, the groundbreaking encyclical by Pope Paul VI on human dignity and personhood, the principles that should direct all aspects of governing and servant leadership.”

Any political system advocating contrary principles — graphically through abortion, subtly through socialist policies based on a materialistic view of man that leads to civilization-destroying servitude and boredom — goes against our God-given nature and, as history has shown, will be short-lived. The challenge is: Will the system irretrievably decimate a people or will the people retake the system to promote cultural and civic renewal before it’s too late? Like a good Christian, O’Donnell is hopefully fighting the good fight — a good, hard fight, that is, unadulterated by the false optimism of an easy victory.

Comments

Shameless Steven’s post should be removed on the condition that it goes against everything NCR-EWTN stands for, as Christine O’Donnell has already clearly done more to promote our faith than most of us do in our entire lifetimes! Truly hope the editors will remove that slander and celebrate the fact that there are people like Ms. O’Donnell out there who are willing to sacrifice for the greater good including selling her house to run against destructive, pro-choice Joe Biden in 2008 when he was campaigning for BOTH his 3+ decade U.S. Senate seat but also as Pres. Obama’s V.P. Honorable leaders like Archbishop Chaput have spoken out against Biden’s hypocritical like, and Ms. O’Donnell has had the courage and conviction to put her name on the line and run for office to try and make America great again.

Posted by Frank on Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 2:26 PM (EST):

I am a traditional Democrat, but supported Ms. O’Donnell because of her convictions related to “life”, fiscal responsibility”, and the fact that once I met her, I determined that she is one smart gal. I also found out that she is a “giver” in this world of so many “takers”. Some of what was said about her was not untrue, however it was twisted by people determined to make her look like a flake. She in reality is a determined, focused, and deeply religious and caring person.
The book was remarkable to me because of what this woman has accomplished. She has done more, and tried to do more, in the first 20+ years of her adult life than most of people I know – most of whom are in their 60’s – and like me getting ready to collect social security. As I mentioned above, she is a giver, not a taker, and one very happy person. Ever notice how selfish people are unhappy, yet some people, regardless of their status in life – that have a caring attitude, that think each day … what can I do for someone – are happy. She is one of the happy ones.
I also find it interesting that people like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann and Christine O’Donnell get shellacked because they are conservative women. Ms. O’Donnell says something on a dumb comedy show about having dated someone that was a Harry Potter wannabe when she was in High School some 25 years ago, and it is big news. Yet, Establishment men are given all manner of SERIOUS behavioral passes which include (as just a few examples from Jeff Lord of The American Spectator http://spectator.org/archives/2011/08/09/the-return-of-christine-odonne/print):
• Senator Ted Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick (in which the very much incumbent senator drove a car off a bridge, a woman drowned and he fled the scene of the accident).
• Senator John McCain’s Keating Five (in which the very much incumbent senator was accused of influencing a federal regulator on behalf of a political contributor).
• Senator Joe Biden’s plagiarism (in which the very much incumbent senator was proved to have routinely lifted the words of everyone from a would-be British prime minister to a would-be U.S. president, a practice he was also proved to have followed as a law student). He is now also under a spotlight (a very small one) in regard to illegal campaign contributions … and we are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Senator Barack Obama’s shady Rezko real estate dealings (in which the very much incumbent senator was shown to have benefitted in a personal real estate deal from federal target Tony Rezko).
• President Bill Clinton’s involvement as both president, governor and attorney general of Arkansas in allegations of sexual harassment and rape.
AND ALL OF THESE GUYS WERE (ARE) SITTING PUBLIC OFFICIALS. ALL OF THESE GUYS ARE (WERE) OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL. Not, with Ms. O’Donnell, who happened to mention an innocuous and laughable stint as some high school kid on a wacky date with what we would call today a Harry Potter wannabe.
Yet in 2010 O’Donnell was the nut; these guys mentioned above—facing serious allegations revolving around everything from the drowning death of a young girl to influence peddling to plagiarism to shady real estate dealings to sexual harassment and rape—skated (and skate) along blissfully as Mr. Mainstream Responsible Respectable. They are so Responsible Respectable they are revered by the Establishment enough to be seen as the “Lion of the Senate” (Kennedy), made the 2008 GOP presidential nominee (McCain—and for the record, McCain may have made his share of mistakes but a dishonest man he is not), the Vice President of the United States (Biden) and two presidents of the United States (Obama and Clinton).——————————————
Frank J Pinizzotto
former President of Democrats for McCain-Palin

Posted by Frank on Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 2:23 PM (EST):

I am a traditional Democrat, but supported Ms. O’Donnell because of her convictions related to “life”, fiscal responsibility”, and the fact that once I met her, I determined that she is one smart gal. I also found out that she is a “giver” in this world of so many “takers”. Some of what was said about her was not untrue, however it was twisted by people determined to make her look like a flake. She in reality is a determined, focused, and deeply religious and caring person.
The book was remarkable to me because of what this woman has accomplished. She has done more, and tried to do more, in the first 20+ years of her adult life than most of people I know – most of whom are in their 60’s – and like me getting ready to collect social security. As I mentioned above, she is a giver, not a taker, and one very happy person. Ever notice how selfish people are unhappy, yet some people, regardless of their status in life – that have a caring attitude, that think each day … what can I do for someone – are happy. She is one of the happy ones.
I also find it interesting that people like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann and Christine O’Donnell get shellacked because they are conservative women. Ms. O’Donnell says something on a dumb comedy show about having dated someone that was a Harry Potter wannabe when she was in High School some 25 years ago, and it is big news. Yet, Establishment men are given all manner of SERIOUS behavioral passes which include (as just a few examples from Jeff Lord of The American Spectator http://spectator.org/archives/2011/08/09/the-return-of-christine-odonne/print):
• Senator Ted Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick (in which the very much incumbent senator drove a car off a bridge, a woman drowned and he fled the scene of the accident).
• Senator John McCain’s Keating Five (in which the very much incumbent senator was accused of influencing a federal regulator on behalf of a political contributor).
• Senator Joe Biden’s plagiarism (in which the very much incumbent senator was proved to have routinely lifted the words of everyone from a would-be British prime minister to a would-be U.S. president, a practice he was also proved to have followed as a law student). He is now also under a spotlight (a very small one) in regard to illegal campaign contributions … and we are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Senator Barack Obama’s shady Rezko real estate dealings (in which the very much incumbent senator was shown to have benefitted in a personal real estate deal from federal target Tony Rezko).
• President Bill Clinton’s involvement as both president, governor and attorney general of Arkansas in allegations of sexual harassment and rape.
AND ALL OF THESE GUYS WERE (ARE) SITTING PUBLIC OFFICIALS. ALL OF THESE GUYS ARE (WERE) OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL. Not, with Ms. O’Donnell, who happened to mention an innocuous and laughable stint as some high school kid on a wacky date with what we would call today a Harry Potter wannabe.
Yet in 2010 O’Donnell was the nut; these guys mentioned above—facing serious allegations revolving around everything from the drowning death of a young girl to influence peddling to plagiarism to shady real estate dealings to sexual harassment and rape—skated (and skate) along blissfully as Mr. Mainstream Responsible Respectable. They are so Responsible Respectable they are revered by the Establishment enough to be seen as the “Lion of the Senate” (Kennedy), made the 2008 GOP presidential nominee (McCain—and for the record, McCain may have made his share of mistakes but a dishonest man he is not), the Vice President of the United States (Biden) and two presidents of the United States (Obama and Clinton).——————————————
Frank J Pinizzotto
former President of Democrats for McCain-Palin

Posted by Vance on Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 2:06 PM (EST):

Christine O’Donnell is another victim of the GOP Left-wing establishment lead by Carl Rove with ‘Move-On.Org’ money behind him. Carl Rove helped elect a straight-up anti-Christ Marxist to the senate. Thanks Carl.

Posted by Steven on Saturday, Jan 7, 2012 2:04 PM (EST):

Today must be “National Slipping Standards Day” in the Register’s editorial office. Too bad this joke of a book review of an even bigger joke’s “political” history didn’t slide off a sharper editor’s desk into where it most properly belonged: the trash can.
What next; a book co-authored by Newt and Calista Gingrich on how to prevent adultery from destroying a marriage? How ‘bout a book by Mel Gibson on adultery, temper management, suppressing anti-Semitism and the urge to drink?
The other day my (far more) “tech-savvy” 20 year old son was driving me nuts about the benefits I’d receive from one of those electronic books sold by Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com, not to mention all the copyright protections that would naturally come with publishing a book on those gizmos.
He’s right on those counts. But I doubt that either of us, short of ripping up the 1st Amendment or requiring some form of professional retraining for wannabe respectable editors, and publishers, could come up with a solution to preventing tripe like this nonsense cooked up by the likes of Christine O’Donnell or her soulmates in Right Wing fantasy world, i.e., Sarah Palin, Michelle(s) Malkin and Bachmann, and of course, no less than Ann—Cruella de—Coulter.
Surely the Register’s capable of doing better. Being conservative doesn’t have to equal demonstrating a diminishing political IQ. A genuinely classy conservative woman leader from across the pond proved that beyond all doubts. Unfortunately, for the Right, on this side, it even takes a truly classy actor like Meryl Streep to do Maggie Thatcher the honor she deserves; which O’Donnell’s ideological fellow travelling soulmate, Rep. Bachmann, could never come close to matching in a hundred lifetimes.
Try again.

Posted by IAmBrianBoru on Saturday, Jan 7, 2012 10:58 AM (EST):

This just helps show there is good reason why I liked her political positions too! I hope to read this book in the not-too-distant future.

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